Pure Maple Syrup
by madame.alexandra
Summary: Gibbs and Jasper gossip about Jenny ... until someone catches them. ACD 'verse; married.


_a/n: maybe at some time, i'll fill in some blanks in Jenny's college years with Gibbs - but for now, I'm still stuck on the kiddies. _

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><p><em><span>Georgetown, Washington D.C.<br>March 2020_

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><p>Leroy Jethro Gibbs kicked back in his father-in-law's study, nursing a heart glass of finest bourbon and breathing out a tired sigh of relief. It wasn't uncommon for him to stop by the Georgetown brownstone on his way home from work – sometimes he was delivering drawings from the girls, or exchanging information with the General – but Jasper Shepard got the impression that tonight, Gibbs was avoiding <em>home<em>.

The older man grunted, lifting his tumbler of scotch in a silent toast and taking a long swallow.

"Rough day?" he asked coolly.

"Same old-same old," Gibbs answered. He eyed the liquid in his glass and then smirked. "Nothin' at NCIS is tougher than an Iraqi desert."

"I hear that," grumbled Jasper.

He leaned back in his leather office chair and peered at Gibbs. Then, he grinned.

"You have a fight with your wife?" he asked smugly. "That why you're bummin' around here?"

"She's not out of class until six," Gibbs answered evasively, "and she picks the kids up from Ziva's, in case I get kept at the Navy Yard."

"Uh-huh," the General snorted skeptically. "Shouldn't you be at home, cookin' her dinner or somethin'."

"Or somethin'," Gibbs muttered in agreement.

He took a drink of bourbon, and then sat up, resting his elbows on his knees and looking over at Jasper with a small grimace.

"Jen's gone crazy," he said edgily.

His father-in-law glared at him mildly, and then sipped on his scotch, shrugging. It was an indicative of how far they'd come – and how much the General really did like Gibbs – that he didn't throw a fit at the comment. In fact – for Gibbs, the most astounding part about Jenny becoming a mother had been the way her father seemed to think that half the time she was being irrational and insane and acting like an alien.

It must be because he'd never been able to fathom Jenny as a grown adult before it had actually happened right in front of his eyes.

"Did she read something stupid on the internet?" Jasper asked warily.

Gibbs laughed.

"Nah, she's not that type."

Jasper snorted skeptically, and pointed his finger.

"She actually gone crazy, or did you provoke her?" he blustered, glaring.

Gibbs arched his eyebrow.

"Kate started walking," he said.

The General faltered a little at the sudden change of subject, and then grinned proudly, slapping his hand on the table. He raised his glass in another toast, and Gibbs drank to it.

"Hell, when?" Jasper asked. "She was still too scared to let go of anything last week!"

Gibbs looked smug, and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Saturday mornin'," he said. "She 'n' Anna were helpin' me with the flowers in the backyard; she got right up to take a sunflower away from her sister. Anna was teasin' her with it."

"Was Jennifer there?"

"Yeah, she didn't miss it – I sure as hell wasn't gonna miss this one," Gibbs said – he had, after all, missed Anna's first steps.

Jasper nodded happily, and then laughed.

"So where's the crazy come in – what'd she do, buy leashes?"

Jenny was notoriously obsessive about the kids and public and good behavior – and Jasper wouldn't exactly put it past her to be one of those moms who slapped leashes disguised as fuzzy animal backpacks on his granddaughters.

Gibbs snorted, and gave his father-in-law a look that said 'prepare yourself' –

"She started _crying_."

The General stared at him. He arched one eyebrow pointedly, and Gibbs nodded pointedly. Jasper reached up and rubbed his jaw, a little confused, and then he gave Gibbs a wry look.

"You think it's 'cause now she can never, ever relax?"

"No," Gibbs said, deciding he had to explain the full story – "You know, Jen's not a sap?" he said, half-statement, half-question, to set the scene.

Jasper gave him a long-suffering look – if there was anything he knew it was that.

"Yeah, I know," he said flippantly. He grinned. "I damn near had to give her electro-shock therapy to get her to ease up on you, back when you first deployed."

"'precciate it," Gibbs drawled, holding up his glass. He smirked, shaking his head. "She went pure maple syrup on me like," he snapped his fingers, "_that_."

"What the hell happened?" the General asked –

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><p><em>Katharyn, flushed with pleasure at the praise she was getting from her father, giggled madly and squirmed in his hug, hitting him lightly on the nose with a large sunflower – one she'd just managed to wrestle from her sister.<em>

_"Mommy, Mommy!" Anna sang, almost as if she were tattling. "Ka-ttttyyyy-waaaaa-llllked! Ka-ttyyy-waaaa-llllked!"_

_Gibbs, still grinning, kissed the crown of his youngest's head and looked up. He met Jen's eyes – she was smiling, one hand on her hip, the other holding a cell phone, and he figured she'd managed to get either a picture or a video._

_Gibbs set Katharyn on her feet and pointed at her mother._

_"Go get Mama, Kate," he encouraged. "Go get her!"_

_Katharyn dropped her sunflower and started unsteadily towards Jenny. Anna giggled and ran towards her, but Gibbs deftly grabbed the back of Anna's little sundress and held her back like a small puppy._

_"You'll knock her down," he growled gently._

_"Daddy!" Anna whined magnificently. "Lemme goooo!"_

_Instead, Gibbs leaned forward and sat Anna down firmly in front of him._

_"It's her turn, Anna-Bee," he said quietly. "You got plenty of attention all to yourself for a year and a half," he warned._

_Anna turned and glared at him pensively, and he looked up to watch Katharyn reach Jenny and pitch forward, grabbing her legs for support and beaming up at her proudly._

_Jenny crouched down, hugged Katharyn, and then after moment, seemed to send her back to Gibbs. She'd come out to take a break from some studying and ask Gibbs if the girls were ready for lunch, and the next thing she knew her baby was walking._

_Gibbs kept an eye on Katharyn to make sure she got back to him – and she did, confident this time, and Anna scrambled up and grabbed her._

_"KATTY, YOU DID IT!" she screeched, promptly tackling her to the ground._

_Gibbs glared at them and, when neither seemed angered or hurt by the rough-housing, rolled his eyes and looked up to share a look with Jenny – but Jenny had disappeared._

_He stood up, brushing his hands on his jeans._

_"Anna," he said, "ease up," he muttered, shaking his head._

_He strolled to the back porch and was about to yell inside, when he saw Jenny sittin on the porch swing, her eyes on her cell phone. He leaned against the house, so he could have both his wife and the girls in his sights, and arched an eyebrow._

_"Jen?"_

_She looked at him, and he was immediately struck with a sort of … wary bewilderment. There were tears in her eyes – there were tears on her damn cheeks. _

_She licked her lips hesitantly._

_He laughed._

_"Jenny, what the hell's the matter?" he asked flippantly._

_"She's walking, Jethro, she's – "_

_"Walkin's normal."_

_"But she was just born yesterday!"_

_He blinked._

_"Jen, she's over a year old – "_

_"I know, I know," she interrupted hastily, glaring at him for looking at her like she was insane. "You know what I mean! It's too – she's my littlest – it's too fast!" she burst out._

_Her green eyes watered again, and she was almost appalled at herself – but she hadn't known she was going to react like this; she'd been so fascinated and delighted with all of Anna's milestones – and even though she'd heard it would all go by so fast, she hadn't realized she even wanted it to go slower. Having two little girls was so hard, and yet she was sitting here acting like an idiot because they were one step closer to being easier to handle._

_Her husband just stared at her. He looked over at the girls again, and he stepped forward, crouching in front of Jenny._

_"They're still babies," he said gruffly. "You think they don't need you or somethin'?"_

_"I think I don't know how to deal with them when they turn into real little people with functioning thought processes and I want them to stay little!" she hissed back._

_Gibbs grinned at her. He saw the problem – no matter how difficult she acknowledged it was to have small babies, she was terrified of having kids old enough to fight with her._

_"Jenny," he started – but –_

_"DADA! HELP, DADA!" Katharyn shrieked insistently – distracted, he looked over, and Katharyn was standing over Anna like a wrestling champ, and Jenny sprang up, scandalized._

_"Oh my god – what did she do to her – "_

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><p>Jasper stared at Gibbs, hanging over his desk, caught up in the story.<p>

"She knocked her out?" he asked, an uncharacteristic yelp.

"No," Gibbs said, rolling his eyes. "She ripped her hair ribbon out, and Anna played dead, to scare her – smart ass," he added affectionately.

"That Anna's got the makings of a world class politician," the General said gruffly.

Gibbs grinned, and swallowed the rest of his bourbon. He rubbed his jaw and looked at his father-in-law for a moment, then cleared his throat.

"I tried to get it out of her later," he went on, "what her problem was."

"Sounds like she was just hormonal," Jasper said flippantly.

"Yeah, but Jen's not really like that," Gibbs said sincerely. "Or if she does snap, she admits she's being irrational, usually," he grumbled.

He did think her crying had been irrational – and, since Saturday, she'd seemed wary that Katharyn was going to do something else progressive – like start playing soccer or invent an alternative fuel and move to Switzerland or something.

"She's stressed," the General grunted. "It's her last semester of law school – you know she thinks she's neglecting them."

"She's not," Gibbs said aggressively. "Look, I know she's got a lot on her plate, but I work with a lot of women _and_ men that don't try half as hard as Jen does to get home, get up early, stay up late, be visible for their kids. She's doin' a lot better than she thinks."

"Why don't you tell her that, instead of broodin' over here, drinkin' my whiskey?" the Jasper asked loudly.

"She said I'm being patronizing – and she's suspicious of me," he added, cracking a smile.

"What did you do?"

Gibbs hesitated, and then grinned at his father-in-law.

"She was upset about the babies growin' up!" he said, defensive from the get go. "I told her we could just have another one!"

He'd said: _You want another baby?_ _You're not that old, Jenny – _which had apparently been the wrong way to phrase that, and the wrong way to start that discussion, because she'd immediately asked why it was 'you' –_ shouldn't it be 'do_ we_ want another baby'_ –

"How'd _that_ go over?" Jasper asked, snorting.

Gibbs gave him a wry look.

"She told me I was insane," he admitted dryly. "She said she didn't know why the hell I wanted a million kids but I damn well better be satisfied with two."

"You want a million?" asked Jasper, bemused.

"Hell, I wouldn't mind three," Gibbs said, shrugging.

"You two done, then?" the General asked brashly.

Gibbs shrugged again. He set his glass down. They hadn't really discussed it, after Katharyn. She hadn't wanted anything done surgically to prevent it, but neither of them had the time to bring it up and talk about it, until the other day.

Gibbs nodded.

"Yeah, I think we're done," he said, fairly confidently.

He was satisfied with what they had; he did sense Jenny was comfortable with two and didn't want to stress them anymore – certainly right now – by adding another. Two was a solid number.

The General nodded his head, and sighed a little.

"Shame," he said lightly. "I would've liked a grandson." He gave his son-in-law a smug look. "I don't think you got a Y chromosome in you, boy," he mocked.

Gibbs glare at him, perfectly satisfied with his two daughters. It was hardly a hit to either his or the General's manhood to have girls – particularly since Jenny was far from a disappointment.

"It must be Jen's fault," Gibbs snorted wryly. "She spends all her time hiding all her sappiness, pretending she doesn't have any, and it turns the kids into girls – "

A firm, admonishing slap to the back of his head, interrupted Gibbs' jest. Startled, he jerked his head around, reaching up to grab it. He heard the General straighten up a little.

Noemi was standing there, one hand on her hip. She pointed at her fiancé, and then she pointed at Gibbs.

"You not come over here and make fun of your wife," she said firmly, giving him a good, long glare. She rounded on Jasper. "You, you not encourage him," she gave him a string of Spanish and shook her head. "_Estupido_," she added for good measure, no translation needed.

The General immediately shaped up and glared at Gibbs.

"Yeah," he said emphatically. "Go home."

Gibbs glared at him good-naturedly, then grinned, and stood up. He stretched, nodded, and reached into his pocket for his keys, leaning forward to kiss Noemi chastely on the cheek.

She took his shoulder in her hand.

"You say little Katharyn walking?" she asked, eyes warm.

Gibbs nodded proudly.

"Yeah, she's getting' the hang of it," he boasted.

Noemi patted his arm.

"Then she be in my wedding, too," she said firmly. "Two flower girls."

Gibbs nodded again, giving her another smile. He gave a short wave to his father-in-law and strolled out of the study, grinning to himself – he wondered if Katharyn being old enough to be in a wedding would change Jen's mind about whether or not they were done.

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><p><em>March 2020<em>

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><p><em>-foreshadowing? ;)<em>

_-alexandra  
>story #243<em>


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